To quote Orson Welles, “times of terror, murder and bloodshed in Europe have created Michelangelo, Da Vinci and the Renaissance movement”.Our aim is that the sixteen selected projects, each one with its own specific vision and cinematographic approach, can blossom in 2023 producing an unforgettable year of film development, generating substance, hopes and visions.
This year, LIM Team andCreative Europe — MEDIA– with a logistical support of theFrench CNC– have decided to join forces in order to be able to exceptionally support four Ukrainian writers / filmmakers (in partnership withTerrarium), among the sixteen projects selected for LIM2023, for the development of their feature film projects.
The darkness of the geopolitical context of 2023 pushes us to redefine what films are made for.Do we need films that comfort us? Or films that give us strength?
Our selection team has been pushed to look at all the projects received this autumn with new lenses. And the nature of the projects received has indeed substantially changed in nature. As if the filmmakers where shaken by the context, like antennas of the world’s trouble.
The premises are strong and the ingredients are here…
Some very personal and original approaches to the genre as in the case of the Scottish Ciaran Lyons, the Portuguese Gonçalo Almeida, the Swiss Luca Zuberbühler and the Ukrainian Stanislav Bytiutskys. We can already imagine them telling each other scary stories, while walking back at night on the beaches of Plouneour-Brignogan, LIM’s headquarters in Brittany.
With the sound of the wind… maybe some of their words will reach as well those sitting at the Café du Port in the middle of a writing room, the Azeri Suad Gara, the Danish Christian Bonke, the British Alfie Baker and the French Théo Jourdain. They are discussing their main characters and the weight they carry.
Just a bit further, on the same huge beach covered in white sand, observing the incredible change of the landscape due to the tides, slightly lit by the moon, the Basque Ainhoa Gutiérrez del Pozo and the Australian Gabrielle Brady are murmuring about the impact of the ocean on their projects.
On the other side of the bay, hidden in the dunes, in a circle, we discover little by little the Belgians Hyun Lories and Sun Mee Cattrysse, the Croatian Lana Barić, the Norwegian Magnus Lysbakken, as well as the Ukrainians Kateryna Gornostai, Alina Matochkina and Tetiana Symon. They all seem to look at the moon, and share how for each of them intimacy becomes a weapon in times of turmoil. It’s as if they feel totally safe, daring to expand their world into new territories.
Throughout 2023, the development of all sixteen projects will be taken care of by four midwives / sparring-partners, four rare brains from all over Europe: Meritxell Colell Aparicio (Spain), Tony Grisoni (UK & Italy), Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine) and Vinca Wiedemann (Denmark).
In the same movement, LIM2023 has selected twelve “Development angels”, creative producers, development executives or script development professionals that want to benefit from the script development frame and tools LIM has developed over the years.
From every corner of our continent, they are Rebecca Anastasi, Nina M. Barbosa Blad, Marek Čermák, Penny Davies, Paul FitzSimons, Clara Kiskanc, Elena Martin, Gaia Meucci-Astley, Nicola Ofoego, Joyce Palmers, Gemma Pascual and Anja Wedell.
No sure recipe indeed, but so many inspiring human beings together, with their dreams, their hopes, their fears, combined with the tides, raises the possibility of something outstanding happening within this LIM2023 Selection.
LIM | Less is More is supported by Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, led by Le Groupe Ouest (France), developed with Control N (Romania), Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds – VAF (Belgium), and Krakow Festival Office – KBF (Poland), in partnership with the Lithuanian Film Centre, the Norwegian Film Institute, Région Bretagne (France), as well as Screen Scotland (UK) and Focal (Switzerland).
With the exceptional contribution of French CNC and Terrarium.